# Ambulatory Assist Lung for Children

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $732,102

## Abstract

Acute and chronic lung diseases remain the most life threatening causes of death and hospitalization in the
pediatric population. Cystic fibrosis (CF), pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis have been observed
to be the most frequent causes of lung failure in pediatric patients. Mechanical ventilation (MV) and
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have been used to bridge sick kids to transplant. These
procedures can lead to poor post-transplant outcomes by their very restrictive nature on mobility. This project
will develop a compact respiratory assist device for pediatric patients, the Pittsburgh Pediatric Ambulatory Lung
(P-PAL) to replace ECMO as a bridge to transplant or recovery in kids with acute and chronic lung failure. The
P-PAL is a wearable and fully integrated blood pump and gas exchange module that will be designed for
implantation of inflow cannula and outflow cannula/grafts in the right atrium and pulmonary artery, respectively.
The P-PAL will be designed for longer-term respiratory support (1-3 months before cartridge change-out) at 70-
90% of normal metabolic oxygenation requirements, while pumping blood from 1 to 2.5 Liters/min. The specific
aims of project are 1) To modify the design and operational parameters of the P-PAL to meet requirements for
blood pumping, gas exchange, priming volume, and form factor, 2) To build P-PAL prototypes along the design
development pathway for bench characterization studies of pumping performance, gas exchange, and
hemolysis, 3) To improve the hemocompatibility of the P-PAL by exploiting novel polymeric zwitterionic
coatings that we have already begun to develop for our adult wearable assist lung, and 4) To perform acute
and chronic studies in healthy lambs to demonstrate the in-vivo performance and hemocompatibility of the
PAAL device and to study its interaction with the cardiopulmonary system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852462
- **Project number:** 5R01HL135482-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** William J. Federspiel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $732,102
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-01-15 → 2021-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852462

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852462, Ambulatory Assist Lung for Children (5R01HL135482-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852462. Licensed CC0.

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